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NEW JERSEY COUNTS 2020: MORRIS COUNTY

NEW JERSEY COUNTS 2020: MORRIS COUNTY. Wind of the Spirit At Wind of the Spirit, we aim to insure justice and inclusion for immigrant communities through community organizing and advocacy, legal services, and health and safety initiatives. OVERVIEW.

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NEW JERSEY COUNTS 2020: MORRIS COUNTY

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  1. NEW JERSEY COUNTS 2020: MORRIS COUNTY Wind of the Spirit At Wind of the Spirit, we aim to insure justice and inclusion for immigrant communities through community organizing and advocacy, legal services, and health and safety initiatives.

  2. OVERVIEW • A fair and accurate 2020 Census is essential for Morris County and ALL of New Jersey • When you fill out the Census, you help: • Determine how many seats NJ gets in Congress • Collect data as many NJ programs rely on census data for planning • Guide how billions of dollars in federal funding are distributed to our NJ communities • In FY2016, NJ received $22.7 billion in federal aid

  3. OVERVIEW • NJ has high numbers of “hard-to-count” groups: • Black/African Americans • Hispanic/Latino • Asian • Immigrants • Non-English speakers • Young children • Seniors • Renters • Veterans

  4. OVERVIEW • Government, non-profits, social service organizations, schools, colleges and universities, businesses and community organizations can help NJ have a fair and accurate 2020 Count

  5. GOALS FOR TODAY • Understand and explain why the Census is so important for New Jersey • Define “hard-to-count” groups and our outreach strategies to reach them • Commit to action to support our Morris County Hard-to-Count populations and statewide Immigrant Communities insure a complete count for 2020

  6. CENSUS 101 Why every New Jersey resident counts

  7. WHAT IS THE CENSUS? • Constitutional requirement every 10 years • Counts every living person in the United States • Run by the federal Census Bureau

  8. WHY DOES THE CENSUS MATTER? • Funding: $675 billion in federal funds depend on Census ($22.7 billion in New Jersey in FY2016) • Planning Data: Number of hospital beds or school classrooms; housing needs; new business branches; roads/highways (infrastructure) • Representation: Census data determines district boundaries and how many representatives states get in Congress and how state legislative and school districts are drawn • Community: Census tells us who is in our communities

  9. HOW DO PEOPLE FILL OUT THE CENSUS? • Four ways to fill out Census in 2020 • Online self-response (new digital and preferred method for 2020) • Will be formatted for smartphones • Phone • Mail • In-Person Interview (“door-knocking”)

  10. CENSUS LANGUAGE SUPPORT WILL BE CRITICAL • 31% of New Jersey residents speak a language other than English at home • Online and phone will be available in 12 languages • Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, French, Haitian Creole, Polish, Portuguese, Japanese • Hard-copy mail form only available in English and Spanish

  11. WHAT CENSUS ASKS FOR • Basic identification information • Who lives here (name, age, gender) • Housing arrangement (owner, renter, etc.) • Racial/ethnic or national origin • Family relationships of residents • Data is confidential • Census will never ask for Social Security numbers, credit card info, tax ID numbers

  12. WHY WE HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT • If we do not count every New Jersey resident, we could lose out for the next ten years on: • Funding • Representation • An accurate, fair distribution of political power • New Jersey needs a reliable, fair Census in 2020- insure our democracy works for all of us

  13. FUNDING FOR NJ PROGRAMS NJ Programs receiving the greatest amount of Federal Assistance dollars: • Medicaid • Federal Direct Student Loans • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) • Medicare Suppl. Medical insurance (Part B) • Highway Planning and Construction • Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers • Federal Transit Formula Grants

  14. SPECIAL CHALLENGES IN 2020 • First primarily digital Census • Access: 15% of NJ residents have no internet or dial-up only • Privacy and cybersecurity concerns • Distrust of government and polls/surveys • Citizenship question • Fear and distrust of government and current climate expected to hinder participation in immigrant communities • Fewer Census Bureau resources for its field operations

  15. HARD-TO-COUNT POPULATIONS If the Census is so important, why doesn’t everybody fill it out?

  16. HOW CAN PEOPLE BE MISSED BY CENSUS? • “Hard-to-count” populations are groups that are often missed by the Census

  17. MANY REASONS FOR UNDERCOUNT • Address not listed • Multi-unit buildings • People not included on questionnaire • Complex households • Highly mobile populations • Fear and distrust of government • Language issues

  18. WHY IS IT A PROBLEM FOR NEW JERSEY? • NJ has high #s of hard-to-count groups • Extremely diverse state (45% non-white, #11 in nation) • High immigrant population (#3 in nation) • Concentrated low-income communities

  19. WHERE ARE NJ’S HARD TO COUNT POPULATIONS ( OUTSIDE MORRIS COUNTY)? • Newark, Trenton, Lakewood, Atlantic City, Pleasantville, Galloway, Salem City, Bridgeton, Vineland, Paterson, Perth Amboy & Woodbridge, New Brunswick, Asbury Park, Long Branch, Jersey City, Bayonne, Union City, West NY, Kearny, N. Bergen, Hackensack, Elizabeth, Passaic City & Clifton, Plainfield, Orange, E. Orange, Irvington, Camden, Fort Dix

  20. WHERE ARE MORRIS COUNTY’S HARD-TO-COUNT POPULATIONS? • Hard-to-count populations are throughout the county • Tier One: Dover, Mine Hill, Morristown, Parsippany, Victory Gardens, Wharton • Tier Two: Boonton, Chester Boro, E. Hanover, Florham Park, Mendham Boro, Mt. Arlington, Pequannock • Tier Three: All other Morris County communities

  21. MORRIS COUNTY MUNCIPAL PROFILES-HARD TO COUNT POPULATIONS

  22. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP US MAKE NEW JERSEY COUNT IN 2020

  23. YOU HAVE A BIG ROLE TO PLAY • You play a critical role in ensuring an accurate Census count in 2020! • There’s less trust in “official” sources and more trust in local COMMUNITY messengers • A fair 2020 Census for NJ needs all hands on deck • Missing a household in any town affects that town, and it also affects the statewide totals and the federal dollars that are distributed based on those calculations. An inaccurate count in one municipality or county affects the resources and representation for the entire state.

  24. 1. PARTICIPATE IN OUR LOCAL COMPLETE COUNT EFFORTS • Wind of the Spirit is a member of the NJ Counts Coalition OF NOT-FOR-PROFIT LEADERS • WotS is coordinating Census 2020 efforts on its behalf in Morris County communities for ALL Hard-to-Count groups • Partnering with Census Bureau and NJ State Complete Count Commission to educate and organize outreach efforts around the state • Also partnering with the states key immigrant rights groups to develop a statewide Immigrants Communities Census 2020 outreach plan

  25. 2. CENSUS PROMOTION and ENGAGEMENT • Spreading the word on Census to local networks in hard-to-count communities is essential • Building Census outreach and engagement into existing programs such as health clinics, religious, community and social service activities and government outreach is included • Needing financial support and funding for our Census outreach will be part of our work

  26. 3. COMMUNICATE IMPORTANCE OF CENSUS • “Surround-sound” education and outreach • Multiple sources and multiple points • Social media, local newsletters • Non-English media (newspapers, radio) • Earned media (news stories, op-eds) • Engaging local and state elected officials and agencies to amplify Census messaging in their networks • Engaging not-for-profits, social service agencies and organizations, faith based organizations, libraries, and other trusted sources to educate and spread our messages

  27. SOME IDEAS OF HOW WE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO HELP • Faith-Based and Not-for-profit: include information on the importance of Census in announcements, newsletters, activities, meetings, and from the pulpit • Social service agencies, libraries or child care: integral to our outreach efforts; serve as a Census kiosk with staff to help people fill out Census forms • Immigrant groups:help us to develop outreach plans and encourage members who speak native languages to join our team • Higher education: train student volunteers to help with our outreach and education efforts • Local government: ensure that nursing homes, apartment complex owners, child care referral agencies, senior services, etc., communicate importance of Census

  28. SOME IDEAS OF HOW WE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO HELP • Public Information Workshops and Trainings • Census Solutions Workshops-begin dialogues to develop trust • Includes not for profits and community groups who know the communities and residents who will need to be engaged and to be counted • Due to potential citizenship question, it will be important for local efforts to include trusted resident voices

  29. SOME IDEAS OF HOW WE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO HELP • Geographically strategic-focused: on the places where residents will be harder to count • Demographically strategic-focused: on the diverse populations that are themselves hard to count • To provide tools, messages and materials to educate and inform in various formats, media and venues • Goals: • Demonstrate to participants the importance of the census for their communities • Demonstrate to participants the importance of being counted themselves and helping their neighbors to be counted

  30. SOME IDEAS OF HOW WE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO HELP • Educating about the census • Focus on helping people understand their own connection to the census and how census participation affects funding for state and local programs that benefit participants, the state and their communities • Provide clear guidance on how to participate and what happens in the case of partial or no response

  31. SOME IDEAS OF HOW WE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO HELP • Fear and Safety • It is important that families make their own decisions about whether to participate • Ideally everyone will decide to be counted • However, in the current climate many communities will feel marginalized and targeted

  32. SOME EXAMPLES OF THE CHALLENGES WE FACE Census bureau research “indicates that a citizenship question is highly likely to scare households with noncitizens, including unauthorized immigrants, from participating in next year’s constitutionally mandated count of every person living in the United States.” (National Public Radio, Inc. 5/22/19) “About 1 in 4 respondents were concerned about the confidentiality of answers to the 2020 Census. Racial and ethnic minorities were significantly more concerned about that than whites” (US Census Bureau, May 17, 2019)

  33. CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

  34. CITIZENSHIP QUESTION • JUNE 2019- US CENSUS BUREAU- predicts “the addition of a citizenship question will have an 8% larger effect on self-response rates in households that may have non-citizens relative to those with only US citizens” • 28.1% of housing units potentially have at least one non-citizen resident

  35. CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

  36. AN EXAMPLE OF THE CHALLENGES WE FACE • Financial Support • As of today, $500,000 has been set aside to fund Census 2020 in NJ • NJ A-5056 requests increased appropriation to $9,000,000 • Last week we learned that the Legislative Budget includes $9mm for the census • We need financial support to sponsor this important work

  37. OUTREACH PLAN FOR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES • Advocacy to strike the citizenship question from the Census - the most important indicator of whether immigrant communities will be counted is whether the citizenship question is included on the 2020 census. • Organizations must continue to rally about the citizenship question as we await the SCOTUS decision

  38. OUTREACH PLAN FOR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES • Statewide Coordination among immigrant groups: because of the particular sensitivities and questions that impact immigrant communities in Census 2020, it will be important to convene immigrant stakeholders, leaders and organizations statewide to discuss strategy, messaging and rapid response to the citizenship question.

  39. OUTREACH PLAN FOR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES • Outreach planning: coordination of outreach in immigrant Hard to Count areas with local partner organizations • Messaging and Promotion: it will be critical to develop a messaging strategy in multiple languages through social media/videos, ethnic media ads, earned media in ethnic media

  40. WHAT WILL YOU DO? • Will you or your organization commit to helping in our Census outreach efforts? • How will you help?

  41. PLAN OUTLINE AND NEXT STEPS • Information gathered on Morris County’s Hard-to-Count Communities • Met with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill’s Office • Identifying Potential Resource Organizations- trusted community sources-tonight and going forward • Identifying Volunteers and Volunteer Plan • Planning Events to Spread the Word

  42. PLAN OUTLINE AND NEXT STEPS • Developing messaging, website, facebook and twitter social media plan • Developing traditional media plan • Developing outreach strategies and plans • Developing fundraising campaign • Educating and Spreading the Word

  43. CONCLUSION, RESOURCES AND CONTACT INFO

  44. CONCLUSION • An accurate 2020 Census is essential for New Jersey • Funding: $22 + billion relies on the Census • Data: Programs rely on Census data for planning • Representation: Political districts determine by Census data • NJ has high numbers of “hard-to-count” groups, such as young children, renters, racial/ethnic minorities and immigrant households • You are a critical partner to Get Out The Count in the 2020 Census in New Jersey!

  45. CONCLUSION The Supreme Court decision on the citizenship questions has increased the challenges of getting a fair and accurate count in the 2020 Census significantly. It is now more important than ever that we all unite, work together and manifest our best human potential to find ways to decrease the expected undercount, an undercount that will deprive each and every one of us who resides in New Jersey – you, me, our communities, neighbors, co-workers, friends and families—of critical services, funding, and data.

  46. CONCLUSION We must build community trust strategies and develop outreach models to address the triggers arising from mental health issues and emotional and psychological traumas and fears of cybersecurity breaches and distrust of government. We must find ways to overcome the fears and empower our hard-to-count communities, in this case in particular our immigrant, refugee, and asylum seekers, to want to be counted—and to do so we must insure their lives and their privacy will be protected by the strictest confidentiality protections and from unlawful and harmful enforcement processes by any government official or agency. The stakes are very high, and our moral obligation is too.

  47. SOME RESOURCES • WotS Website: www.windofthespirit.net • WotS Twitter: @windofspiritnj • WotSFacebook: www.facebook.com/Windofthe Spirit • Fund for New Jersey Fact Sheets: https://fundfornj.org/census • U.S. Census Bureau: https://www.census.gov/partners.html • Information on Hard-to-Count areas: https://www.census.gov/roam • Leadership Conference materials: https://civilrights.org/census/

  48. CONTACT US • Brian Lozano • brian@windofthespirit.net • 862-812-4472 • Melissa (Missy) Elias • organizing@windofthespirit.net • census@windofthespirit.net • 201-220-4495

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